Lost Bitcoin?

[Merit.s]

Bitcoin don't get lost even if you leave your bitcoin in your wallet for ten years it remains there,it can only be considered lost,if the owner did not have access to his  wallet, either due to he has forget his password or lost his seed phrase.The second way is if he didn't keep his wallet safe from hackers or malware,that is only when they will have access to his bitcoin. It is just like our fiat banking system, if you are using an ATM or Credit card,if you forget your pincode,you can not have access to your funds till you go to your bank.In bitcoin case because you are your bank therefore you are responsible to provide accessibility to your bitcoin,if not it remains there in your wallet. All these are part of the reason that all bitcoin in the world cannot be bought,because some bitcoin are just there in their wallet without  anybody having access to them due to lost of seed phrase.

[posi]

If for two years fiat is kept in the bank, they keep rotating our money and it looks like it will be profitable because of interest when it is just a wind of heaven sold by them to get customers. If we keep a large amount of fiat, then one day when we need it and want to withdraw it, the bank will make excuses by telling us to come back in the next few days. That's my experience.
Not to mention the decline in value.

On the contrary, I have seen my parents have some savings in the bank, and they have withdrawn the money many times with almost no problem. If talking about bank profitability will not comparable to bitcoin, but it is safer than bitcoin.

It's different from keeping Bitcoin in a wallet for years. Whenever the owner needs it, then we can use it. If Bitcoin was stored for 1 year ago, maybe the benefits we can get have made us a rich man, especially those who store in a wallet before Bitcoin has the current price.

Not lost, but don't want to use it. Maybe this is the same as what was said above.

If you buy bitcoin for $69k, now your asset value has lost more than 60% of its value, compared to inflation from 2022 to the present, bitcoin is causing a bigger loss.

Why are you trying to talk bad about fiat and use nice words for bitcoin? While both are important in life and we can properly allocate assets to both.

[xSkylarx]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

2 years is very short because the holder holds longer than that; it should be like 6 years or more because if there is still no movement from those years, for sure it was a lost bitcoin or the owner died. That was very long if there was no activity on that wallet. Also, if bitcoin was already lost, it will be gone forever unless you find the private key for an unknown reason and can open it again. Not sure if those people who hold morethan 6 years is that what are their target selling point.

[yazher]

A wallet without any transaction for 2 year is considered as the owner is death or lost seeds? no way, there are many people are holding Bitcoin for more than 2 years without moving it because they're trying for long term holding.

That's right and at the same time by not doing any transactions, they save their privacy and most of the time it's for their own safety. Nowadays when people see huge numbers of BTC being moved to some exchanges, they make a fuss about it by posting it and they won't let the man do his thing with his bitcoins according to his free will. Those who don't do any transactions are actually the smartest people because they wanted to keep their BTC private with no one noticing it and no one knowing about it. Maybe some of those people are celebrities that we have known for a long time and because they have multiple sources of income, they don't much care about their BTC at all until it reaches the desired amount they want to sell it.

[Lucius]

If you buy bitcoin for $69k, now your asset value has lost more than 60% of its value, compared to inflation from 2022 to the present, bitcoin is causing a bigger loss.

Why are you trying to talk bad about fiat and use nice words for bitcoin? While both are important in life and we can properly allocate assets to both.

If you buy Bitcoin only to sell it at a higher price at some point, then you are making a really stupid move if you do it during a big bull run and then find yourself in trouble when the correction follows. Anyone who has any idea how the market works will not find themselves in such a situation, but it seems that there are many who have not learned anything from the mistakes made by other people.

I agree that you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket, because that's the only correct way to try to protect yourself from all risks - but in general, fiat is one of the worst ways to store value, especially if you look at it in the long term. It's true that Bitcoin is extremely volatile, but if you were to take a 4-year period into account, anyone who invested in late 2018 at a price of roughly $3500 has profited over 600% today.

[martyns]

There are innumerable individuals in the space who held bitcoin in their cold wallets; some of these individuals have since passed away without disclosing their 12 private keys or even providing their loved ones with login information for the exchanges where they kept their bitcoin and altcoins. It is quite distressing to see lost bitcoins in exchanges and wallets because they no longer belong to the owner but rather to the exchange or wallet where they are being kept. Regarding those keeping bitcoin for a long time, the user's wallet or exchange should be in an active status to make it clear that he or she is alive and fully aware of all transactions occurring in the account. There are specific years for long-term purposes for bitcoin.

[rat03gopoh]

But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it.

Is it true?
I think the bank only considers your account inactive when they are done dredging your savings for monthly fees until it is left with zero after a few years.
It doesn't apply to bitcoin. There are no exact parameters for considering bitcoins to lose access. The owner can leave without touching it indefinitely without even 1 sat of deduction.

[kryptqnick]

I remember a Vice News video that explained they presume coins that weren't moved for 5 years were lost. I thought that it wasn't long enough, as while lots of those unmoved coins might be lost, it's not unthinkable that someone just won't move their funds for 5 years and would continue hodling. Still, the op's suggested 2 years barrier is even lower, and I hope estimates of the amount of lost coins don't use it. I wish those who write articles like 20% of BTC is lost or 30% of BTC is lost would come forward with such info as how many years they take as their criterion.

[GideonGono]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

I think there are some people who just want to sit their crypto investment for a long term.
I mean we can't be sure that all of those unmoved Bitcoins are actually lost.
I am really curious on how many lost Bitcoin are really out there but I guess we couldn't really know that for sure.

[ChiBitCTy]

Just echoing what some have already said, plenty of people leave bitcoin wallets sitting for 2 or more years, that's really not something uncommon at all.  I don't think really any sizable percentage of bitcoin wallets no matter how old can be counted on as being "out of comission" or lost, so to speak.  There's quite a few who've opened wallets and sat bitcoin in it for the long haul in my opinion, and speculating too far is kind of futile imo.

[wxa7115]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

There is no way to be sure that any coins have been lost, someone could claim the coins at a particular address are lost, but unless they can prove that at some point in time they owned those coins and they lost access to their private key we cannot say those coins are really lost.

And even in that scenario we cannot be completely sure about it as they could always find the private key and recover them or they were just lying about it and they can still move them, so even if some coins have not moved for a long time that does not mean anything, as there are coins which have not moved for way longer than 2 years and we know they are not lost as their owners signed a message and demonstrated they still hold control of them.

[Nrcewker]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

If Bitcoins are there in the wallet for long term, that doesn’t mean those coins are lost. It maybe the owner is Hodling for longer period of time. If you generally have a big amount of Bitcoins, then you won’t be that much careless that you will forget the private key of the wallet. As I have seen generally the long term holders don’t touch the coins for 4 year cycle, they invest for 4 years altogether. So yes we cannot just claim that those Bitcoins are lost. And comparing Fiat and Cryptos are completely useless. Both have different features and they are completely different.

[imamusma]

If for two years fiat is kept in the bank, they keep rotating our money and it looks like it will be profitable because of interest when it is just a wind of heaven sold by them to get customers. If we keep a large amount of fiat, then one day when we need it and want to withdraw it, the bank will make excuses by telling us to come back in the next few days. That's my experience.
Not to mention the decline in value.

Banks can guarantee the safety of their customers' funds, especially if it is a state-owned bank. However, at the same time, the account owner has signed an agreement that the money is used by the bank as capital and the account owner will only receive a fairly low interest as profit sharing. Some people think deposits are very profitable because they make profit every year on interest, but they forget that currency is losing value day by day.

It's different from keeping Bitcoin in a wallet for years. Whenever the owner needs it, then we can use it. If Bitcoin was stored for 1 year ago, maybe the benefits we can get have made us a rich man, especially those who store in a wallet before Bitcoin has the current price.

Not lost, but don't want to use it. Maybe this is the same as what was said above.

Bitcoin investments are profitable, but at the same time they are detrimental. This means that this investment is risky because apart from price volatility, the security risk depends only on you. If you are smart enough to protect your private keys safely from the moment you invest, you may still be able to access your wallet even after several years. Then imagine if you lose access, it will be stored there forever without being able to be moved by anyone because your bitcoin are not stored in the wallet.

But that doesn't mean people won't consider bitcoin as store of value asset. Whether you realize it or not, many institutions have used bitcoin as store of value, and other large investors have done that too. We may not have reached that stage yet, but we are what is needed to keep this industry strong.

[worle1bm]

The people holding their coins in wallets for more then 2 years don't mean they have lost access but they are simply holding their coins for long term without even selling or moving them to other wallets.There are some dormant address having so many coins but still they have access to their wallets and can spend them anytime they wish to do so.

[Erumo]

I would believe more that Bitcoin in the wallet is untouched due to address owner has lost access to it (lost password, seed), then think that Bitcoin is untouched in the wallet because the owner has died. Or more likely people hold and aim to make a trade only when Bitcoin price hits, lets say 100k. People do keep funds in places just to save them for black day after all. They dont keep banknotes in books for example, coz they have forgotten in which book they have placed them in. It is understandable, that some % of Bitcoins are lost forever. But I would considered such silent wallets as a holding wallets, rather then think that wallets owner is dead or lost access to them.

[CageMabok]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

Bitcoin will not die in the wallet even if the wallet cannot be opened again due to loss of the private key. And the movement will remain the same as you see the Bitcoin in the wallet that you can still open now. For cryptocurrencies that you want to use as currency, of course you have to see if the cryptocurrencies have started to be accepted in your country and also by any sellers in your area. Because you also can't spend it alone unless you enter the market like other traders.

[kro55]

If we want crypto currency to be a currency we have to keep spending right? But at the same time it's something worth keeping too since I do the same with my fiat in bank for more than 2years without touching it. Is it possible to say that Bitcoin in every wallets for the past 2years without moving are considered lost due to death or lost recovery keys? It's pretty hard to believe that anyone won't come back for their Bitcoin after 2years with no activities on the wallet.

2 years is very short because the holder holds longer than that; it should be like 6 years or more because if there is still no movement from those years, for sure it was a lost bitcoin or the owner died. That was very long if there was no activity on that wallet. Also, if bitcoin was already lost, it will be gone forever unless you find the private key for an unknown reason and can open it again. Not sure if those people who hold morethan 6 years is that what are their target selling point.

Two years or 6 years or maybe longer, then I think just because it didn't move or didn't make any move doesn't mean that bitcoins are definitely lost. Many people have a lot of money, and they don't need to use that bitcoin, so they have no reason to move it, big investors have big goals, they have a long-term vision that can last for decades, and will always hold their investment until then. Over the years, we have also seen a few whale wallets waking up after 5 years, 7 years of hibernation.

[yudi09]

If for two years fiat is kept in the bank, they keep rotating our money and it looks like it will be profitable because of interest when it is just a wind of heaven sold by them to get customers. If we keep a large amount of fiat, then one day when we need it and want to withdraw it, the bank will make excuses by telling us to come back in the next few days. That's my experience.
Not to mention the decline in value.

Banks can guarantee the safety of their customers' funds, especially if it is a state-owned bank. However, at the same time, the account owner has signed an agreement that the money is used by the bank as capital and the account owner will only receive a fairly low interest as profit sharing. Some people think deposits are very profitable because they make profit every year on interest, but they forget that currency is losing value day by day.

That's true if the bank can guarantee every customer's money. I'm not saying that keeping your money there will make you lose it, but they give you a reason to come back in a few days. Maybe there was something at the time that made them give that answer.
Beyond our discussion, it's better to expect profits on Bitcoin investments than to expect profits from banks through the amount of interest per year.

[Accardo]

A lost bitcoin can't be accessed, but it helps the growth of bitcoin as it contributes to all the bitcoin in the market. Because they're not being spent, similar to the hodled BTC you mentioned. Once a person can access their coins, it'll be considered their own way of helping the network grow. Some people have been hodling for more than 2 years, and they do that to make more profits unlike the banks, the money saved in banks gets inflated. So, it's better to hodl Bitcoin than money in the bank. Like everyone else, the hodled Bitcoin is not lost unless considered lost by the owner.

[yohananaomi]

The people holding their coins in wallets for more then 2 years don't mean they have lost access but they are simply holding their coins for long term without even selling or moving them to other wallets.There are some dormant address having so many coins but still they have access to their wallets and can spend them anytime they wish to do so.

for investors who are used to it, of course, when storing coins in their wallet, it's not unusual that it can take quite a long time, because it is adjusted to the price conditions that might be desired.
at least it will always be in accordance with the halving period which will occur once every 4 years, but indeed everything is adjusted according to individual criteria and will always not be the same.
but usually will use several wallets for each transaction to be adjusted according to the coin, so that there are wallets that are active and those that are not active, it does not mean that if it is not active the wallet cannot be accessed.